history of New Zealand

The energetic Liberal government led by John Ballance, which took office in 1891, accelerated the process of change. It opened more land (much of it bought from the Maori), established farmers on perpetual state leaseholds, provided credit for land purchase and improvements, and built roads. So came into existence great dairying and meat-producing areas, especially in the North Island. Prices...

relationship to New Zealand National Party

political party founded in 1936 in the merger of non-Labour groups, most notably the United Party and the Reform Party, two parties that had been in coalition since 1931. It supports free-market economic policies and draws votes heavily from suburban and rural districts.

support by trade unions

Industrial defeats led unions to turn to politics with greater urgency than before. In New Zealand they gave their support to the
Liberal Party, which won a historic victory in December 1890. The Liberals’ social and economic reforms that followed attracted attention throughout the developed world, but they also may have delayed the emergence of labour as an independent political force, since...